Mustang roundup corrals fun, funds

Published
5:06 pm CDT, Thursday, June 4, 2015

EAST ALTON — Fur will fly and motors murmur at the coming Mustangs For Mustangs Car Cruise and Flea Market.

The Legendary Mustang Sanctuary’s rescued native American horses will hang about and trot in the Concert Corral for visitors to see up close and personally. Madison County’s only wild mustang rescue organization partnered with the St. Louis Regional Airport to bring the union of mustang cars and mustangs of the equine variety together for a car cruise and flea market, which starts the day’s activities at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 23 at the St. Louis Regional Airport in E. Alton.

The Legendary Mustang Sanctuary fund-raiser will benefit the nonprofit rescue organization dedicated to helping and finding adoptive homes for as many wild mustangs as possible. Founders and administrators Kathy and Shawn Lewis currently are raising funds for a dependable horse trailer to make needed road trips to several different states west of Illinois to rescue horses and burros from holding facilities. Currently, the sanctuary is the home of five rescued wild mustang horses, three dogs, seven cats, 40 chickens, a wild mustang horse in training and one wild burro available for adoption.

Specifically, the Lewises go to U.S. Bureau of Land Management holding facilities, to pick up wild mustang horses. They do not actually “roundup” the horses from natural lands; the U.S. Bureau of Land Management rounds up the horses and wild burros on a daily basis.

“We do not reduce the wild mustang population. We rescue them from their final destination and find them forever adoptable homes,” Executive Administrator Kathy Lewis said. “When we bring in the horses, we have 90 days to find them a home. If we do not find them a home within 90 days, we have to return them to the (U.S. Bureau of Land Management). They cannot become permanent residents (on the Legendary Mustang Sanctuary).”

The mission of the Legendary Mustang Sanctuary is to rescue as many of these animals as possible to adopt out to permanent loving homes and caregivers. At the same time, the organization aims to bridge the past with the present through education program for all ages, as well as services to scouts enabling them to meet skills and badge requirements. The Legendary Mustang Sanctuary also offers internships for college students of veterinary medicine and equine science.

“Large animal internships are very valuable since they are rarely available, especially locally,” Lewis said. “All of the work involved in successful sanctuary programs and operations is donation based.”

Mustang cars on display will be provided by the Southern Illinois Mustang Association, which works in collaboration with Roberts Motors in Alton, which is a Ford dealership and helped the association put on its first car show. The Southern Illinois Mustang Association is a charter member of the Mustang Club of America.

The event will go on rain or shine, with different models and years of Ford mustang cars. There will be live entertainment and family-friendly fun from face painting, Zumba, sno-cone eating and other activities for youngsters to a 50/50 drawing, attendance prizes, a gun raffle and more.

The inaugural Tailgates — Trunks — Tables old-fashioned flea market will include anything from items found from cleaning out closets, basements and garages to vendors’ information booths where visitors can seek consultation or information and product demonstrations from various businesses and services.

“It’s great fun for all as you get to enjoy the fabulous mustang horses, too,” Legendary Mustang Sanctuary Public Relations Director/Promotions Chair Cora Miller said. “Just imagine — mustang horses and mustang cars on the same field and it’s only happening here in our Riverbend community.”

Funds raised through community support during Mustangs For Mustangs will help the sanctuary obtain a working trailer that cost upwards from about $11,000 in used condition, based on the latest quoted from an owner of such a trailer that meets most of the needed-standards for rescuing wild horses and burros. These standards differ from those required for domesticated animals or cattle.

“We need at least a three-horse trailer, slant with one door back and no ramp,” Lewis said. “We prefer a goose-neck style for better stability and economy, since we travel thousands of miles during a rescue mission.”

The Legendary Mustang Sanctuary is the only licensed wild mustang horse rescue sanctuary east of the Mississippi River and the only one in Illinois.

“We are so fortunate to have it right here in Madison County, where education melds the past with the present, expanding into real, living, interactive historical experiences with the legendary horses that helped America grow throughout the west,” Miller said.

This type of program is extended to people of all ages.

“It promotes interests and understanding of the importance in protecting the living legends that are, indeed, still living today,” Miller noted. “All funds raised go to the rescue, care, healing and adoption process for these animals, which begins with a working rescue trailer.”

The sanctuary raises money by creating and holding events, through donations from the public and memberships and by selling logo-ed merchandise, such as T-shirts and hats. T-shirts will not be given away with a separate or previous monetary donation, because the sale of the item is considered a donation, Lewis explained. T-shirts can be ordered and paid for individually by calling Lewis at 618-616-8875. The Legendary Mustang Sanctuary thanked the Alton Community Service League for a recent grant allocation to help the organization get a horse trailer.

Costs associated with each rescued horse include approximately $8,000 to meet federal rescue standards and $50,000 to $60,000 annually for care, training, maintenance and adoptions, which all fall under general operations for the Legendary Mustang Sanctuary. Historically, funding came out-of-pocket from the co-founders, but that practice no longer is sustainable. This year, new volunteers came on board to help locate funding opportunities to continue the rescue mission and grow the educational programs already in place.

The Legendary Mustang Sanctuary is a 501 (c)(3) Illinois nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that has operated for four years but has been rescuing horses for at least eight years. All donations are tax deductible. The organization has a 100 percent successful adoption rate in its programs and no matter adoption attempt outcomes, rescued mustangs and burros are never sold.

Call Legendary Mustang Sanctuary co-founder and Executive Administrator Kathy Lewis at 618-616-8875 or visit www.legendarymustangsanctuary.org and its Facebook page for more information.